As the calendar officially turns over to fall, pumpkins are suddenly everywhere and so are those travelers in search of a little fall foliage. Nothing can ruin a fall colors trip than showing up at your destination to find the leaves off of the trees and a whole lot of brown. In order to make certain you don’t snooze on this time of year, here are a few resources to consult to ensure a colorful autumn trip.

Check Local News Websites: Most local news websites feature a section on fall foliage in the area. If you are planning on heading up to Vermont or down to Arkansas, you will want to consult the local news at your destination for the best times to see the changing colors. Many of these, like in my home state of Colorado, even offer suggested drives you can take to see the fall foliage. These are often more locally based routes rather than suggestions from out-of-towners.

Use an App For That: It’s hard to imagine what we did before smartphones and apps, including when it comes to fall foliage tracking. Of course, like almost everything else in life, there’s an app for that. A favorite app for leaf peeping is the Foliage Leaf Peepr from Yankee Magazine. The free app helps users find and report the best colors in the U.S. Users can post photographs, write comments and rate the foliage status for their location. As a result, travelers can consult the app to see if where they are headed is either green, turning, moderate, peak, fading or long gone in terms of fall colors.

Consult the Weather Channel Travel Smart Map: The Weather Channel has a Travel Smart map tool where you can select outdoor activities in your region and then narrow down your map to just show fall foliage. The fall foliage feature presents a map where you can learn about the current conditions and whether colors are patchy, near peak, peak or past peak at your destination. You can also select your fall foliage zone by region in the United States. The Weather Channel map feature is updated frequently to assist those who always miss out on the peak times for leaf peeping.

Read up on the U.S. Forest Service Fall Foliage website: Updated each year, the U.S. Forest Service website on fall foliage is a good resource for your fall color adventures. The site helps put the traveler in touch with other experts depending on which area you are headed to or what forest. You can learn about the best places in the national forests and grasslands to see the changing hues. The website also lists the phone numbers of the forests so that you can call to see if the leaves are changing. In terms of a general guide about the changing colors, this is one resource to consult before you hit the road.

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